Chapter 10
Finding prey was soon proving harder than Bluepaw would've guessed. She could find some of it, but even that she managed to scare away. It had been a long time now. Would anyone notice if she was gone? Would she get in trouble if she came back without prey?
I need to find something. Bluepaw thought. She had been looking at the ground, so she was taken completely by surprise when a cat leapt out of bushes and caught prey, a rabbit, in front of her. Bluepaw let out a scream and jumped back. The other cat, a gray one with green eyes, seemed just as surprised as she was. She dropped her prey.
Bluepaw had recovered from her surprise though. She growled. "This is Fallenclan territory!" She shouted. "You can't be here!"
The cat took a few steps back apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'll leave at once. And-" She paused, "And you can have this rabbit if you promise not to make a fuss about this."
Bluepaw gave an excited gasp. Had the loner really just thought? "Really?! You're going to give me this prey!"
The cat nodded. "You seem awfully excited, is Fallenclan having trouble with prey?"
Bluepaw shook her head. "I just needed to bring back prey, and I can't seem to catch any myself." Bluepaw shut her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that, she'd just wanted to defend her clan, and had been so excited, she'd let her mouth slip.
The loner nodded sympathetically though. "Well, if you need any help learning how, I can help you."
"You can?" Bluepaw asked, narrowing her eyes. "What's in it for you?"
"A friend in a clan, I think that's valuable, don't you agree?"
"Very." Bluepaw agreed. "Alright. You can help."
"Okay, show me how you do it." The loner requested.
Bluepaw crouched low and slid forward.
"Hold it!" The loner shouted.
Bluepaw bristled. "What?!" She snapped.
But unlike Pearlshine, the loner didn't get upset back. "I think I see your problem, you're tails up in the air."
Bluepaw looked puzzled. "Really? That's all it is." The loner nodded. "But that's so simple."
The loner shrugged. "When it comes to catching prey, even little things can throw you off."
Bluepaw nodded slowly. Then she looked at the sky. "Oh. I should go" She ran over and picked up the prey.
"I should too." The loner agreed. She started away in the opposite direction.
A thought suddenly occurred to Bluepaw. "Wait!" The loner turned around. "How will I meet you again?"
The loner smiled. "I can come by the border later. Tomorrow perhaps?"
Bluepaw nodded. "Sounds good." Then the two parted ways. It was only later Bluepaw realized she never got the loner's name.
Owlpaw poked her head out of the bushes and looked around. No one was around, not even her mentor was around. Good. She thought. She clambered out of the bushes and started towards the far end of the territory, the end not shared with any other clans. It was there she was supposed to meet Death Trap.
"Owlpaw!" Owlpaw's eyes grew wide. She hadn't gotten that far. She turned around to see Drizzlepaw. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Nothing." Owlpaw lied. "Just taking a walk." It was a bad lie, and she could hear it in her voice.
But Drizzlepaw didn't seem to notice. "You want to train with me?" He asked. "Candlewick was about to teach me some moves."
Candlewick, almost as if on cue, walked into view as well. It was so easy to hide in the territory. Candlewick gave a nod. "It would be better if Drizzlepaw practiced with someone his level."
Owlpaw tried not to look nervous. If it was just Drizzlepaw, she might've been able to refuse, but Candlewick would've been suspicious. So she nodded. "Okay."
They started fighting for a while. Then she saw Tigerpaw watching her from behind Drizzlepaw. Her gaze flicked to Candlewick, trying to explain with her eyes.
Tigerpaw gave an understanding nod. He knew she couldn't leave. He turned around and dashed away to report to Death Trap on his own.
